


A Not-So-Green Thumb

by Auriana Valoria (AuriV1)



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Elfroot, F/M, Fluff, Gardens & Gardening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 04:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13873221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuriV1/pseuds/Auriana%20Valoria
Summary: Nikki Trevelyan wants to be a better healer, and to do that, she has to conquer the art of herbalism. Thankfully, she has the Commander to support her as she struggles to learn.----------------This is a small fic prize from my recent 600 Follower Giveaway on Tumblr, for @childrenofdestiny! Enjoy! :)





	A Not-So-Green Thumb

**Author's Note:**

  * For [childrenofdestiny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/childrenofdestiny/gifts).



Nikki Trevelyan sat in the dirt on the edge of Skyhold’s garden near the portico, a massive clay pot sitting between her knees, her legs stretched out in front of her. A small canvas bag of seeds lay to one side, a pitcher of water beside it. The Inquisitor held a small hand spade in one curled fist while the other pawed at the soil in the pot before her. Her brow knitted together as she calculated, her fingers sunken into the cool earth and hollowing out a place for the seed she wanted to plant. After moderate success with cultivating some standard elfroot plants, Nikki had decided to try her not-so-green thumb with a rarer variety – royal elfroot…the only challenge being that royal elfroot was pickier about growing environments than the other elfroot she was used to. Soil depth had to be just right, or the plant would be stunted.

Or at least, that’s what the botany books she had spent the last several nights studying had said.

She stuck out her tongue and held it between her teeth as she concentrated on measurement, approximating the depth of the hole in inches and guessing how much more she had to go. She _thought_ she had already reached the proper depth for her seeds, but then she began to wonder if she wasn’t off by just a little bit. Sighing, she began assaulting the soil with her spade again to dig another inch or two down…

That was, until she heard a hearty chuckle.

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. So far as she knew, everyone else in the garden had departed for their midday meal long ago, leaving her to tend to her herbs in blessed solitude. But it seemed she was mistaken…

A flash of silver in the noon sun drew her attention to her new guest, who was leaning on the portico, watching her.

 _Cullen_.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, wiping her damp brow with the back of her hand and unknowingly smearing dirt on her forehead. Even though she tried to sound mildly offended at being laughed at, the Commander’s mirth brought a smile to her face.

He grinned back at her. “You’re stabbing that dirt like it’s a mortal foe.”

She glanced to the pot. “Sometimes I think it _is_ a mortal foe.”

He pushed off from the wall and meandered towards her. “What are you planting this time?” he asked curiously.

“Royal elfroot.”

He cocked his head at her with a quizzical expression. “Didn’t Leliana just give you an entire shipment of it to make potions with?”

“Yes, but…”

“You want to try growing it yourself,” he supplied for her, nodding his understanding.

She sighed again. “Well, my spindleweed plants didn’t fare very well,” she said, her lips pressed together as she remembered her disappointment upon seeing the apparently fully-grown plants barely sticking out of the soil with dull leaves and too-dry stems – not even enough to help someone with the sniffles. “And the gardener suggested I try the less sensitive elfroot to practice with. I did, and it went all right. Better than the spindleweed, at least.” She gestured to the pots on the opposite side of the garden, which were filled with said elfroot. “But then I wanted to try growing different varieties of it, so…”

Cullen slowly eased onto the ground beside her, the buckles of his armor clinking slightly. “My mother used to grow a few royal elfroot plants. I remember when I was young, she had a tea she would make when my brother and sisters and I inevitably grew ill every winter. Nothing serious, just the common cold. It would have us well in days.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Unfortunately, I don’t recall how she tended to them to keep them healthy. Only the common knowledge that so long as a bit of the root survives, a new plant will grow from it.”

Nikki blushed. “Yes…and I think that’s why the gardener recommended I stick with just it for a while…”

His brow rose at that. “Because it’s so difficult to kill?”

She huffed and shook her head in frustration. “Yes. Isn’t it ironic? I’m a healer with a not-so-green thumb. Herbalism should be part of my skill set, right? But it isn’t!” She tossed the spade onto the ground, her speech speeding up with her anxiety. “Spells are all well and good but to help people sometimes you just need a good potion or a tea like you said and that means being able to grow the herbs for them too not just mix them and to do that I need to learn how to-”

“Nik!” Cullen said abruptly, gently taking her shoulders in his hands and looking into her eyes with the utmost gentleness in his gaze. “You _do_ help people. You don’t have to struggle with this to be a proper healer. Most apothecaries and alchemists rely on someone else to provide the herbs for them…there is no shame in that.”

She searched his warm amber eyes and felt herself relaxing under the comforting weight of his gaze and his hands on her shoulders, her stress melting away. “I know. But I _want_ to. I’m not going to let this beat me, Cullen. I didn’t let Corypheus beat me at Haven, I’m certainly _not_ going to give up with these plants.”

The corner of his mouth turned upwards in his signature smirk, then, his scar stretching along with his cheek. “Of course not. I have every confidence that you will prevail against the challenge of royal elfroot, Inquisitor Trevelyan.”

With that, he took her chin in one hand and wiped the dirt from her forehead with the thumb of the other, the smooth leather brushing away a stray lock of auburn hair. He then pressed a brief kiss to the skin between her brows before planting another, tenderer one upon her lips. After, he gave her a gentle and encouraging smile and moved first to his knees and then to his feet, brushing off his trousers as he stood. Stepping away to leave her to her task, he grinned at her again.

“Just don’t forget to eat.”


End file.
